Message development, social media strategies, and speaker/media training for individuals and groups, so you don't get caught unprepared, speechless or without a message. I'm Washington, DC-based communications consultant Denise Graveline. Want to pick my brain or get a sense of how I work? Do it here.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Don't get caught, indeed: I'd been mulling a post on shifts in how communicators handle media relations in social networks. I didn't need to look too far, because there have been some visible media-relations missteps in electronic media, from Twitter to good old email. And this morning's examples involve government officials, a nonprofit, and ironically, a social-media company. Herewith, some out-in-the-open examples that may have some yearning for the days of "no comment" and other, more opaque options:

The block-or-unfollow media relations policy: In the past month, I've seen two high-profile cases of executives blocking or unfollowing reporters who are following them on Twitter in what appear to be punitive moves in the wake of coverage they didn't like. Twitter's own PR chief unfollowed a journalist after unflattering coverage about the company's rumored move out of San Francisco. And Texas Governor Rick Perry has blocked several reporters from following his Twitter feed. (Blocking gets you the message "Could not follow user: You have been blocked from following this account at the request of the user." It must be done selectively by the account holder.) A reporter need only use someone else's account to login and read the Governor's tweets, so this amounts to a high-profile finger-wagging that we wouldn't have known about in days of yore.

Likewise, a public affairs official, of all people, should be identified in her public capacity when she's commenting on public matters, on a social network or elsewhere. You, too, should identify your work connections, even when you're not tweeting on your employer's behalf. Tell us who you really are, please, and where you are really located. The governor's and Twitter's block-and-unfollow tactics were widely decried on Twitter itself, the most open of networks; while these moves may not violate a regulation or law, they're not as smart as they may have seemed at the time. No sunshine out there in Texas or at Twitter? In social media as previously, when your policies become the story, something's wrong...even when you handle it as gracefully as did the Red Cross.

Congratulating yourself that this will never happen to you, smart communicator? Go make sure of it. Have this discussion with your team, build your assumptions into a policy and make it available and public. Check how you and your communications colleagues are identified, especially if you comment on official matters from time to time. Take the time to think through the channels you use to communicate with reporters publicly and behind the scenes. And work through how you'll handle relationships and follows with your team. All these missteps are worth it if you'll build a smarter social media policy as a result.

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